Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension) (6 page)

So James had come, with the Sixth healers, and brought Thorne back.

And there Thorne stood, a changed man, his back to her, his Droid Ascender pressed to his ear. Marguerite was pregnant with twins, and he was playing the
concerned husband
role like he’d been born to it. God, staring at him was like looking at an amputated leg, the portion that had been removed. She kept wanting to reach for Thorne and reattach him somehow.

“So how are you doing?”

Endelle flipped around in her chair to find that Alison had just folded into her office. “How the hell did you sneak in here without my knowing and why the hell are you grinning like that?”

“I have news.”

Endelle waited to hear what it was. But Alison didn’t say a word, she just kept grinning like someone was tickling her ass-crack.

“Okay, I am so not in the mood for any fucking games.”

Alison lifted a brow then turned slowly around until Endelle had a perfect view of her bare back and what looked like wing-locks.

“Holy shit.” She rose up from her chair and looked closer. “Alison, don’t be shitting me. Does this mean you fucking got your wings?”

Alison turned back around, her expression euphoric. “Yes, Madame Endelle, I so fucking did. I woke up this morning, felt a little strange, then a vibration flowed through me like an electric current. The impulse to mount my wings was almost overwhelming. As soon as I told Kerrick what was going on, he folded me to the back lawn and I let them fly. I still can’t believe it.”

Neither could Endelle. Despite the fact that Alison was only recently ascended from Mortal Earth, Endelle had always known that Alison would mount her wings early. Anyone with that much power wouldn’t wait decades to take to the skies.

Damn but wasn’t she a beauty; about six feet, long blond hair pinned back this afternoon with a gold clip. Was it any wonder Kerrick had fallen hard for her? But then had he really had a choice? Her warriors were succumbing fast to the
breh-hedden,
one after the other, a bunch of overbuilt dominoes. She had long suspected that the appearance of the
breh-hedden
on Second Earth was a balancing force against Greaves, a set of dimensional scales working on behalf of ascenders everywhere to keep evil from triumphing.

Thorne was the latest victim of the
breh-
bond, and for the past five months she’d received reports from the Seattle Colony on Mortal Earth that Leto was still caught in the fist of that myth-that-wasn’t-a-myth. Oddly, it was Thorne’s sister, Grace, that Leto had lost it for.

But as she met Alison’s gaze, she had a strong prescience that there was more to the sudden appearance of her wings than just flight capability. Endelle could feel it in every cell of her body.

Her heart started beating like a bird trying to get out of a cage. She put her hand to her chest.

Alison had ascended over a year ago, one freakishly powerful mortal who had carried with her just about every preternatural ability a Second ascender could ever possess. She had ended up serving as Endelle’s executive assistant, even though she could have been anything in the second dimension, including a Warrior of the Blood. The woman, however, had the killing instinct of dandelion fluff, so executive assistant it was.

Endelle clapped her hands together. “This is some righteous shit. So are they white, blue, orange, what?”

Alison shook her head and her eyes glittered. “Emerald, like Kerrick’s eyes. A beautiful deep green with black banding at the tips.”

“Mount them for me.”

Alison looked around then shook her head. “I can’t.”

Endelle smiled. “The wingspan is too big.”

“Yep.” Mounting wings in too small a space could cause damage.

Endelle narrowed her eyes. “Okay, spill the rest of it, because I know there’s something else, right?”

Alison nodded. “My dreams have returned, the ones about opening the Trough to Third Earth.”

“The portal to the third dimension,” Endelle murmured. She put two fingers to her lips and sat down. Her heart was still that wild bird. Vampires didn’t usually stroke out, but she thought if she didn’t calm the hell down she might just be the first one. So Alison had mounted her wings and now her dreams had returned, the ones that placed her at White Lake with the blue spinning vortex above: the portal to Third Earth.

She swallowed hard. She had a feeling that everything relating to the war and to Greaves was coming to a head.

Then she felt something new slam into her from the direction of Mortal Earth and another
holy shit
shot through her mind.

When Thorne finally put his phone away and turned in her direction, she said, “You’d better get your woman over here, and while you’re at it, I want to see Jean-Pierre and Fiona as well. Now. Within the next sixty seconds.”

Thorne might have been the Supreme High Commander of the Allied Ascender Forces, but she was still in charge. He met her gaze, his hazel eyes clear and beautiful in a way they hadn’t been in centuries. He was a new man thanks to the bonding of the
breh-hedden
. He nodded and withdrew his Droid from the pocket of his slacks, then started issuing orders.

“What’s going on?” Alison asked.

Endelle looked up at her. “You’ll find out, and it isn’t just about your wings.”

Marguerite arrived first. Her hair was short and platinum blond and her six-months-pregnant belly stuck straight out in front of her. She was a full foot shorter than Thorne. He slid his arm around her back and leaned down to kiss her. She wore a snug blouse, and his hand went to her stomach. She looked beautiful. Hell, together they could have been a pair of Mortal Earth movie stars.

Marguerite had turned out to be one big surprise in Endelle’s world and in their small circle of über-powerful vampires. She had a mountain of power as a bona fide red variety of obsidian flame and as the most powerful Seer on the planet. Endelle had made her Supreme High Seer of Second Earth, a distinction that had no particular perks and a lot of responsibility. Marguerite had translated her job into a constant effort to secure global Seers rights for the frequently enslaved Seer population.

Near the east wall of windows, a shimmering brought Jean-Pierre and Fiona into the office, both wearing jeans with matching tanks and gazing at each other like no one else existed. Fiona had fang-marks on her neck. Oh, shit, the couple had been doin’ the nasty when she pulled them in here. She was almost sorry she’d disturbed them, but she had more important stuff going on than a little nookie between
breh
-mates.

Jean-Pierre had a head of gold-streaked light brown hair that curled however the hell it wanted. She could tell he’d crammed it into the
cadroen,
another sign that he’d been busy when he got Thorne’s call. He had eyes the color of the ocean, big teeth, and a big smile. Fucking gorgeous.

Fiona, the gold variety of obsidian flame, had silver-blue eyes and long chestnut hair. She’d at least combed her hair, but with the exception of some lip gloss, she wore no makeup. She didn’t need to, though. She was in love and all aglow, maybe the best makeup a woman could ever wear.

“What is it, Endelle?” Jean-Pierre asked as he and Fiona drew close to her desk. His accent still carried a French lilt and drove the ladies wild. She often heard him speaking quietly to Fiona in French, after which of course she would end up wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. How many times had she seen the couple just take off from any old event once he started in with his mother tongue?

She glanced from one ascender to the next. “Have a couple of things to share, and before you start yelling at me about not sharing sooner, I just found out about both these things.” She jerked her thumb at Alison. “This one got her wings this morning.”

A round of congratulations flew from both couples in Alison’s direction.

“We should have a party,” Marguerite said. Her bonding to Thorne five months ago had released a hostess on the Warriors of the Blood. She often had everyone over to Thorne’s Sedona house. Poker had become a big deal and even drew the unbonded warriors, like Zacharius and Santiago, out of that shithole of a rec room the boys called the Cave.

“Hold your horses, red flame,” Endelle said. “There’s more.” When all eyes were fixed on her once more, she continued, “Alison has been dreaming about the portal to Third Earth again and flying over White Lake. You know what that means, right?”

As one, everyone shifted to stare at Alison.

“Damn, Alison,” Thorne said. “I didn’t think it would be so soon.”

“What?” Marguerite turned to Thorne. “Why don’t I know what this means?”

He looked down at her and told her the story about Alison’s ascension, how she’d had numerous dreams about flying over White Lake, about looking up and seeing the blue vortex that led to the third dimension, and that somehow she knew that her destiny was to open the Trough to Third.

Marguerite shifted to stare once more at Alison. “Holy motherfucker.” She then clapped her hand over her mouth, patted her stomach, and said, “Sorry, kids.”

Endelle laughed. But from the time Alison’s daughter, Helena, arrived, they’d all started curbing warrior-speak. Alison scolded everyone because she said she didn’t want baby Helena’s first word to be
shit
or worse.

Fiona returned to the subject at hand. “Do you have a sense, an intuition, that you’ll be opening the portal soon?”

At that, Endelle, swiveled in her chair to look up at Alison as well.

Alison blinked several times as though pondering the question. She then met Endelle’s gaze. “Yes, it will be soon. But doesn’t that mean the war will heat up? I always thought, or maybe felt, that once we had contact with Third Earth, the war with Greaves would end.”

“We all thought that,” Thorne said. He said to Endelle, “But how likely does this seem? I’ve been building the army, but we don’t have anywhere near enough warriors to battle Greaves directly.”

Endelle nodded. “I know. But now for my second bit of news, although”—here she glanced at Fiona and Marguerite—“I confess I’m a little surprised that the two of you don’t have word for me as well.” She then looked at their
brehs
and smiled. “I guess the pair of you have been too busy to notice that Grace is back.”

“What?” At least three ascenders shouted that word at the same time.

Fiona shook her head. “I don’t sense her at all.”

“Well, hopefully it’s because she’s with Leto on Mortal Earth. Maybe the mist Diallo creates to protect the colony isn’t allowing information to travel far. I felt her, though, just a few minutes ago, but then, well, I’m me and I have more power than the bunch of you combined.” She didn’t often brag but it felt kind of good right now. She then launched into exactly how she thought things should unfold, starting with Alison.

She looked up at the blond beauty again. “You’d better get to practicing your flight skills. I have a feeling they’ll be needed within the next few days. Got it?”

“Absolutely. Kerrick has already been working with me. We’re both feeling the urgency. My God, Endelle, do you think this is it? I mean, the war has gone on for so long.”

“I won’t say for sure, but I think it’s possible.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, the second thing is equally important. We’ll need to bring obsidian flame up to speed as fast as possible.” She looked from Thorne to Jean-Pierre. “If I remember correctly, though, most of the warriors will be out at the Borderlands. Both of you said you’d join Leto at the warrior games.”

Marguerite said, “Yes, the four of us are going. So it looks like we’ll see Grace there.”

Endelle nodded. “Good. We’ll get things rolling.” She addressed Thorne. “I just hope your sister doesn’t intend to pull any of her spiritual bullshit and refuse to participate because she needs to meditate or something.”

He just stared at her, looking exasperated as he often did when she opened her mouth.

“Hey,” she said. “Don’t look at me like that. Grace was the one who took off with that good-for-nothing and left Leto flat-footed. Why should I trust that just because she’s come back, she means to do her duty?”

Thorne leaned forward and held her gaze. “Because Grace has tremendous integrity and you know that. She also knows what obsidian flame will mean to you, to all of us. When she left like she did, I know she had a good reason, even if she didn’t share it with us. Coming back, she’ll have a better one.”

“Do you have to be reasonable?”

He smiled. Thorne had a beautiful smile—maybe not quite as brilliant as Jean-Pierre’s, but damn close.

“All right,” she said, waving her hand in his direction. “The warrior games will start in a few hours. The four of you can take off, but, Thorne, please do what you can to impress your sister with all of this. Let both Leto and Grace know about Alison’s wings as well.”

When the two couples vanished, Endelle turned back to Alison, whose gaze dipped down to Endelle’s chest. When Alison frowned, Endelle also glanced at her latest creation. She flipped the pinecones and the resin-coated monarch butterfly necklace. “You no like?”

Alison said, “Well, it’s not in your usual style?”

“Lacks the glam I’m used to rocking. It’s in honor of the warrior games. I’m telling you, though, that colony is so organic, it gives me the scratch. But I thought I should make an effort. I have bee-stilettos to die for.”

“I’m not even gonna ask.”

“Good. So how’s Helena, anyway?” Warrior Kerrick had gotten his woman pregnant on about the third day of her rite of ascension. Talk about virile. Now baby Helena was ten months old, or something like that.

Alison shrugged. “She’s got too many powers for an infant. It’s hard to know what to do with her. She can communicate telepathically now, but hearing that baby gibberish in my head all day is driving me bonkers.”

“Bonkers? That a new psychobabble expression?” Alison had been a therapist by profession before her ascension.

“It is today.”

“Well, you should bring her by. It’s good for morale.” Endelle clasped her fingers together. She doubted she was fooling anyone, but she actually liked Helena. There was a kind of intelligence in her green eyes that Endelle approved of. She wasn’t your ordinary kid.